Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Mike Keith talks Mariota, favorite calls and what the Music City Miracle meant to him

Episode Date: May 29, 2019

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Welcome in to another edition of Locked on Titans. I'm Jimmy Morris, joined as always by Terry Lambert. Terry, how are things? Doing well. What's going on? Not too much. We have part two today with Mike Keith. Mike, thanks again for taking the time. Oh, it's my pleasure. We're always glad to have you. Before we get started, again, remind you we write for MusicCityMiracles.com. We're the Titans for SB Nation. Check us out there. Follow us on Twitter. I am at jmorrismcm. Terry is at tlamberttn.

You can also get the podcast wherever you get your podcasts, Google, Spotify, Himalaya, iTunes, whatever it is. Just search out Locked on Titans. You'll find us there. Subscribe to the show so that you will get the new episodes as soon as they become available. If you missed yesterday's episode with Mike Keith, that's one of the perfect reasons to subscribe. You wouldn't have missed it. But secondly, you can go back and listen to it. We talked a little bit about the draft, that kind of stuff. Today, we're going to get into some of the things with the roster. There have also been a couple of news things that have happened over the last couple of days, at least around the titans so we'll kind of get into that as well um so i'll start off the first thing uh there's the the whole marcus

mariota and his his weight conversation um that we've had you know quite a few conversations about um some people are particularly interested in but here's here's my question here's one thing i noticed i mean i don't know you know karski has a report now uh you can go to paul karski.com and see that on how much weight marcus has actually gained um i i know just looking at him you can tell that he's bigger um he looks noticeably bigger to me than he did last season and i'm sure people that have actually like seen him in person and stuff i'm sure it's very noticeable there um can you kind of talk about maybe if you have any idea of where the Titans want him weight-wise and what you think that the added strength, because, I mean, obviously muscle he's added, not the bad kind of weight, but what you think the added strength will do to him

as far as his game on the field? Yeah, it's not like how I had 5 or 10 pounds. Exactly right. Yeah, it's not like how I had 5 or 10 pounds. Exactly right. If I'm watching too much Law & Order and eating chips, I'm putting on that added, I call it that added strength, but it's really not. Now, I mean, he's bigger. I mean, there's just no doubt.

He's thicker. And it really shows up to me in his lower body. You can tell he's done just a ton of work there. He always stays in good shape, and you said it, he puts on good weight all the way around. The Titans by no means are going to discuss where they want him, and they're not even going to discuss that with me to give me any sort of idea of what they're thinking. They're not even going to discuss that with me to give me any sort of idea of what they're thinking.

But the overall idea is for him to just be as strong as he possibly can be to take whatever hits he's going to take. You know, this offseason is totally about helping Marcus Mario to be able to make it through 16 games. Because I want to tell you, as I watch Ryan Tannehill practice, I'm impressed. Ryan Tannehill is a great quarterback. My hope for Ryan Tannehill in 2019 is we don't see him play in one game. I hope he wears the best ball cap and eye black and they get him a good jacket and whatever. And I hope he rests and is ready to go for every game and i hope he doesn't play a snap because if if he doesn't then that means

that the tennessee titans offense has had a good year and that means marcus mariotis had a good year and let's face it guys for a football team that last year only averaged 19.4 points per game that's going to mean if Marcus plays all 16 games that's going to mean we've been we've been much better as a team and I think we're going to the playoffs so that's what it's all about that's what it's about in the offensive line that's what it's about in the receiver room the tight end room the run game how do we help Marcus? And then there are these things that they want Marcus to do for Marcus to be as ready as he possibly can be.

Everybody understands what he means to us and what he means to our 2019 season. That's the whole thing with Mariota. It's hard to evaluate him fairly with everything that's going on with the coaching changes, with the various injuries. Last season that he's playing, we don't know how hurt he was. That probably affects him. If he puts 16 games together, I'm of the thinking that he probably does get that extension that everyone's talking about. But do you kind of feel the same way? Obviously he has to play at somewhat of a high level,

but if he puts together, say, an average 16 games and stays healthy, what in the world is John Robinson going to do? That's just a horribly tough decision. Well, I think you look at it back to –'s talk about deshaun watson for a second everybody going on and on about deshaun watson's second year with houston i love deshaun watson i loved him at clemson i i am so disappointed he's in our division i i wish he was playing in on the west coast or in canada or something because i hate playing against him twice but last year he threw 26 touchdowns and nine interceptions.

Guess who had the exact same numbers at the end of his second year? Marcus Mariota. Marcus Mariota had the exact same second year that this guy did. And Watson's a great player. I don't think there's any doubt in my mind that we've got the guy who can do it. But does he need to stay healthy? Yes. Yes, he does. And that's a two-sided equation. It's an equation about the run game and the receivers and the offense. And then on the other side, Marcus has got to get rid of the ball. Marcus can't take extra shots. Marcus has to be

as prepared as possible, which I think we all know he will be. But it comes down to that. I mean, there are certain players that we've had in my 21 years with the ball club that didn't work out. And part of the reason that they didn't work out, or the biggest part of the reason that they didn't work out, was just simply injury. And so it's part of it. It's certainly part of it at the quarterback position. He was right last year for about two weeks. For about two weeks he was totally right. I think he was right in early November, maybe late October as well.

You know, he played the great game against the Chargers that we lost in London, and then he came back and he played great against Dallas and he played great against New England. And, you know, then against Indianapolis he got hurt. And so there we went again. You know, there we went again into that situation where, you know, he just wasn't really right the rest of the year. He didn't play in the Houston game in week two after getting hurt in week one.

He plays against Jacksonville. He can't throw it very far, but he comes through for us. He played better against Philly, but, you know, he still wasn't exactly right. And then he takes 11 sacks in the Baltimore game and gets beat up again. So it was just never quite there for him at any point last year. And, I mean, listen, he's got to start off gunning 100%. If he's gunning 100%, there's nobody that I would necessarily rather have because at his best, I think he gives us a chance to win every single game,

no matter the opponent. And that's what you want out of your quarterback, period. All right, coming up, we continue our discussion with Mike Keith. All right, coming up, we continue our discussion with Mike Keith. Okay, so we talked in the last episode about the starting battle, the positional battles on the offensive line. We did not talk about Jack Conklin and Dennis Kelly necessarily in that conversation. You know, there's a segment of this fan base that wants Dennis Kelly to play right tackle and Jack Conklin to play right guard. Do you have any reason to believe that the Titans

are even considering moving Conklin to guard? I don't right now, but I don't know that it's something that they wouldn't look at at some point. In other words, I'm not going to say never to that, but I think their viewpoint is that Conklin is the starting right tackle when he gets back and healthy, because you've seen to what level that he can play at. Jack Conklin was an all-pro as a rookie and didn't play quite as well his second year, but was still fantastic. You know, he was a top end right tackle so two really really good years you could say his rookie year was a great year even and then you know last year was just injury plagued he just was never a hundred percent right at any point and so you know to get him back and healthy is one of the big keys for

this football team you know we got about four or five guys like that you know to get Delaney Walker back to get Jack Conklin back and healthy obviously Jarrell Casey I don't think you're as worried about him because his injury was not as significant. The other one is Logan Ryan in the secondary. We really missed him in that Indianapolis game in the season ender. He's a guy who had a really nice year. So we've got several guys that we, I don't mean to stray away from the offensive line battle, but we've got four or five guys that getting the back,

Johnnie Smith, another one as well, four or five guys that need to bounce back from injury and be able to play like themselves as quickly as possible. Kind of a general OTA question for me. Delaney Walker, we saw out moving around. Great to see, you know, looked like himself again. Number one, where is he at? And number two, who has kind of stood out so far?

He has, just to see him out there. You're like, what? What is that? Because we did not expect that, honestly. You know, it's funny. We've got another, somebody in the office said, I can't remember who, they go, do we have a duplicate 82 in practice? I swear that's the truth because the thought process was he's so slim

and we didn't expect him out there. He just looked utterly fantastic. Really, really a good-looking player overall. So you're excited to see him back out there. Now, they're going to, I mean, maybe he plays in a preseason game. I would pay money if he didn't. I would be willing to contribute whatever to the don't play Delaney Walker in a preseason game fund. But I just want him ready September 8th when we go to Cleveland. And that's the pacing that I think you're going to see. You're probably going to see him in a lot of individual drills,

not a lot of team drills, because the team drills where you can bang a knee with somebody or get your foot caught, get stepped on, whatever, you're probably going to keep him as far away from that, and you're going to be more concerned about his conditioning. I think as camp goes on, he'll probably do more team-type things, but they will pace him in that way, understanding that on August 12th he'll be 35 years old. The other standout for me, probably there are two, Taylor LeJuan just looks fantastic. I think physically he has clearly been working this offseason to be ready,

and I think he wants to sort of follow the mantra of going from good to great. I think he understands where he can be on this scale and that he's been a very, very good player and a pro bowler, but that he can even a very, very good player and a pro bowler, but that he can even go to another level. And then Jarrell Casey. Jarrell Casey has clearly added size, and that shows up to me a great deal. The other one, too, is Corey Davis.

Corey Davis is just smooth. And I think Corey has a chance to make as big a jump from year two to year three as he did from year one to year two. And I don't think he gets enough credit for the jump that he made from year one to year two. All right, coming up, we finish up our conversation with Mike Keith. Okay, so we talked about position battles again. Right guard, offensive line, whatever you want to say there is the most notable one.

Is there an under-the-radar position that we're not necessarily talking about that the starting spot could be up for grabs in training camp? Because as I look at the roster, really outside of the offensive line, it seems pretty cut and dry where everybody's going to be. Yeah, I don't think so. I'd love to say, oh, yes, and give you some mysterious battle, but I don't think there is. I mean, I think right now, barring injury,

you have a pretty good idea who the starters are going to be at most spots. I think the battles are going to be roster spots 44 through 53. That, to me, is going to end up being the most interesting part of camp, the last ten roster spots. When I've seen our good teams here over 20-plus years, our good teams feature those sorts of battles, and I think that's what you're going to see. Do you keep five receivers?

Do you keep six receivers? Do you keep three tight ends? Do you keep four to see. Do you keep five receivers? Do you keep six receivers? Do you keep three tight ends? Do you keep four tight ends? Do you keep three running backs? Do you keep four running backs? Do you keep eight offensive linemen? Do you keep nine offensive linemen? Do you keep five D linemen or six?

And then going through the back two as well with the defensive backs and the linebackers. What are you keeping? Who are football players that, regardless of position, that you just cannot let go? You know, who are the David Flewellens who are going to be there? And the other thing, too, guys, I was having a great conversation with a friend the other day about the difference between how you build your roster for the 46 and how you build

your roster for the 53. My friend asked me, what about keeping three quarterbacks? I said, well, you can do that. But if you keep three quarterbacks, then you know the third quarterback is automatically down every Sunday. That's an inactive player. Would you rather have that spot opened up to go through the rest of your roster, keeping another receiver or tight end or tackle or cornerback, whatever? That ends up being the bigger question. So the 46-man building towards, and John Robinson, I think, is very good at that. Building towards your game day 46 for September 8th as compared to just building your

53 is a big deal. And obviously too, I mean we may end up in actuality with a 54 man roster if Jeffrey Simmons starts the year on PUP which, you know, may well happen. One of the biggest mysteries on this team right now

is offensive coordinator Arthur Smith. Just don't know a whole lot about him. You've had the chance, I'm assuming, to see him work a little in practice. What's your overall first impressions of him as a coach? So I'll tell you about Arthur. Arthur is in his ninth year on the staff and i got to know arthur very early on and was really impressed with him from the start munchak really liked him a lot and just and that's when he was just you know quality control and such as that and so then wizenhunt comes in and rustin Webster recommended to Wisenhut that he find

a place for Arthur. Well, I think you know by now Wisenhut was going to do what Wisenhut was going to do. So, but he interviewed Arthur and was so impressed, he kept him. Well, then when Malarkey was promoted, Malarkey loved Arthur and made him the tight end coach. And so then they bring in Vrabel, and Robinson recommends Arthur to Vrabel. And Vrabel says, oh, yeah, you're staying. And then by the end of last year, it's obvious that he is one of the more important pieces to Matt LaFleur and the offensive staff. important pieces to Matt LaFleur and the offensive staff. And the tight end coach is so vital in the NFL because the tight end coach works on game planning, not only the pass game, but also the

run game. And so the tight end coach is a vital link to both ends of the offense during the course of the week. So he knows all the terminology. He knows all the mindset. And I don't want to say that he became Matt's right hand because I don't want to speak for Matt, but that's the way it felt. And so when the chance came for him to be promoted, all of us who knew him thought that's what Mike Vrabel should do. But our question was, does he want it? Because he's never said two words to anybody about anything.

And, of course, we know his background, too. We know who his dad is, and we understand all of that. That had really not gotten out into the public. People didn't really know who he was. And so we were so thrilled. The players were thrilled. I mean, you've got a Delaney Walker who's thrilled, a Taylor LeJuan who's thrilled, a Marcus

Mariota who's thrilled. All these guys from different position groups who have such a belief in him as a coach. And the fact that everybody says, well, he's never called plays. Right. That's what's so nice about the preseason. He will have four games to have figured out his rhythm by the time he does it for real.

I think he is going to be great at this job. And the early reviews from the players are fantastic. Largely because he's a great communicator. He's a great teacher. And with his lack of ego, he has no interest in blowing up the whole system that's huge and that's huge for mariota right now too all right let's shift gears a little bit you have been the voice of the titans were you the voice of the tennessee oilers as well i was not i was the i was the color commentator for the final year of the Tennessee Oilers in 1998.

I was the scoreboard host in 97, and then I hosted the Tennessee version of the pregame show on the stations that carried the last year of the Houston Oilers here in the Mid-South. the last year of the Houston Oilers here in the Mid-South. So I've actually been involved since 96, but I didn't take over as the play-by-play announcer until we were the Tennessee Titans. The late, great Joe McConnell was the voice of the Tennessee Oilers, and he was so good. Fantastic announcer.

I'm just lucky he didn't want to move here. Gotcha. So you've been the boys the titans since they were the titans um you obviously have called we talked on a podcast you did with us last year kind of working through the you know the top 10 wins or top five wins whatever it was we talked about last year um but just give us an idea of your preparation for a game. So let's say, you know, week one, going to play the Browns. Kind of walk us through your week as you get ready to call that game on Sunday.

Well, let me take you back. I'm working on that now. So we're doing this in late spring, and I'm working on the preseason opponents and probably the first two or three opponents now. And what I'm doing is I'm going through not only those teams, but I'm going through all of our opponents and updating all of my notes on them at the conclusion of the draft so that I've got their rosters up to speed, I've got bios up to speed,

I've got all of the statistical information that I would need up to speed, so that all I have to do is go back and add those things during the course of the season. So all that's going on now. I've done all my bio work for the Titans. I have a 90-man roster built. I have a 90-man depth chart built at this time for us. All of these things I keep doing throughout the course of the offseason, and I keep updating.

Jim Wyatt laughs because when we cut a player, we sign a player. I walk down and hand him another roster and a depth chart, and he just laughs at me because he thinks I'm crazy. But for me, the way to do it is every day and to live it sort of every day. Like I'm watching these practices. I'm watching Delaney Walker catch off a jugs machine right now. I'm reading every clip there is. I'm reading clips from papers of teams that will play during

the course of the year. I do just tons of reading. So then we get to game week. And what it'll be, the Cleveland week will be rather simple because I will have been getting ready for that all off season. The challenge will be the Indianapolis week in week two. Because what you'll do is you'll go through Sunday night, you'll redo all of your notes based on what we did in the Cleveland game. I'll also go ahead and update all of our notes against Cleveland because what if we were to see them in the playoffs in January? So I want to have all that ready just in case. So that Sunday into Monday is updating everything.

Monday is my day that I work with Titans radio stations, including 104.5 The Zone, and spending time with them. Monday is also the press conference. Monday we have Titans radio. Monday we get ready for the Mike Vrabel Show. Into Tuesday is preparing for Titans All Access and preparing for more Titans Radio. And that's also where I will sit down and watch our game again and take notes. And then I will sit down and watch Indianapolis' game, their season opener, and take notes as well. So I'll get up.

And then to Wednesday, by that time you're getting the releases from both teams of the games. And so Wednesday I will go through both releases, spend time with that. I will go to our practice. And I'll generally come up with some questions for Dave McGinnis, some background that I want. I'll start doing some of my writing for Sunday about key points about the game. Thursday is largely the same as Wednesday, although generally we've had the podcast on Thursdays,

and so that's another thing that takes up part of the day. We'll also have to get ready for Titans Radio. And then on Friday, I have a checklist of things that I'm going to go through before I leave the office. And so I'm going to have all my production meetings that day, head coach, coordinators, anybody that I'm going to talk to, general manager. We're recording pregame interviews at that point. And then I'm going to go through that checklist, and it's got 20 points on it,

and I'm going to make sure that I have everything prepared to go. Then I have a folder, a notebook really, with a lot of deep things into it in case we have a weather delay, in case something comes up about this or that or the other. I've got it all filed away in a notebook because you don't want to have paper scattered all over the place. So that's what I will make sure that I have ready to go. And then by the time you get to Saturday, it's either a travel day or a review day, and then obviously Sunday is the game. The week itself is not bad because I spend a lot of time right now doing the background things

that you don't want to have to. Like, I can update all of Ben Roethlisberger's notes now, right? So, you know, nothing's going to happen between now and when we play Pittsburgh in the preseason that is going to happen with Ben Roethlisberger. And if we were to play Pittsburgh in week four, which we don't this year, but if we were, then if I update him through now, then all I've got to do is add in the first three weeks of stats, which is a lot easier than having to dig deep and do tons of reading week of the game. It's a 12-month-a-year process. And if I had done this when I was in school, I would have been a straight-A student. And if I had done this when I was in school, I would have been a straight-A student. But I was much more interested in this than I ever was school.

Yeah, it's an amazing amount of work. Yeah, it's amazing how much more fun this is than school. But still, kids, go to school. Well, I've always wanted to ask you this question. I think I know a couple on this list, but give me some of your favorite calls as a Titans announcer. Favorite calls? Favorite calls. I'll tell you one.

This will shock you. When I got to announce that Brian Hoyer was warming up and they were going to take Tom Brady out of the game last November, here on November the 11th. And I mean that sincerely because the 2009 loss there was so gut-wrenching. I mean, it was just such an awful experience. And then to think that we were going to beat the New England Patriots to the point that they were going to take Tom Brady out of the game

with seven minutes to go, that's one of the greatest feelings I've ever had in this job because of what had happened nine years earlier, almost to the day. I mean, it was, that was the most, you know, in the time I've been here, and I started 21 years ago this past Saturday, and there have been very few bad days. That was the worst day, you know, losing up there 59 to nothing and and not knowing what was going to happen when we got on that plane and i thought everybody was getting fired and it was

just it was just an awful experience and to to win that game after losing to them nine years earlier and to have our fans get to experience that was just the best experience. I mean, it was just so much fun. It is one of, it will always be one of my very favorite games. It wasn't a close game. You know, it wasn't a dramatic game like Philadelphia. I loved the overtime drive against Philadelphia. That was so much fun, and I was shaking for 10 minutes after that game ended.

My hands were shaking. You know, converting the fourth downs and then the touchdown pass to Davis to win the game. I mean, it was just so much fun. so much fun. Mariota, I guess the reason I'm such a Mariota believer is because I have seen every moment. I know what he's capable of.

The stiff arm against Jacksonville to get the first down to go to the playoffs, coming back to win the playoff game in Kansas City, beating New Orleans in New Orleans as a rookie. I mean, he's had moments that a lot of players in this league haven't had.

And I was also witness to a lot of the early Steve McNair moments where people didn't quite believe, and you saw him develop into that guy. I think this guy has that potential. I really, really do. into that guy. I think this guy has that potential. I really, really do. And so the majority of those moments that I've had, or a good number of those moments, have been with Mariota as the quarterback, particularly in the last three seasons. There have been a lot of special things happen in the last three seasons. If this ball club can kind of put it all together and can get a little bit of luck, I mean, let's face it, you need a little bit of luck. I think this club could do something

really special. I'm excited to see what they're going to do in 2019 because you just get that feeling that it factor is there. Obviously, a lot of it has to do with the quarterback but as a ball club i think it's there okay i don't think i've ever asked you about the music city miracle call um you know and i'm assuming yeah i don't i don't think we've ever actually talked about it but um so i'm assuming as it's going on you're not thinking about the the historical significance of the call and that kind of stuff um number one where are you number two at what point does it hit you that that's going to be something that's going to be played like forever basically i'm in the parking lot of chili's after dinner. Cody Allison, our sideline reporter, went out to dinner.

We went to dinner at Chili's in Cool Springs. And they had the game or they had the TV on in the bar. And they had the sound up for some reason, which they never do. And they were playing Our Call in the bar. And Cody says to me, he goes, you know, this is going to end up being a pretty big deal. And honestly, I was just so excited we won that I didn't have any, I was like, yeah, I guess it will. Because I didn't really know what I'd said. You know, I had just heard it really the one time to listen to it.

And the only thing I could think was, okay, that was accurate. That's who had the ball, and they scored a touchdown. And, you know, that's really what you worry about. Now, all that screaming, you know, I wasn't excited about that. But it was real. I mean, that was the whole thing. It was not put on or contrived. I mean, that was a person being excited in a moment.

I wish I didn't do that, but I do. And so then I got home, and there were 37 messages on our voicemail. It's like, what? You know, to do radio shows, to do this, that, and the other, I had to have a press availability the next day because I had been requested. The game was on a Saturday, and on that Sunday, the press requested to talk to me. That's never happened before since. before or since. It was like, this is a little nuts.

And I was doing a radio show, too, probably two days later, and it was with a guy named John Fricke. You guys may remember him from CNN. Years and years ago. You guys are probably not that old. And he was really good. I thought John Fricke did a good job. And I was a big fan. And so they called me, and they put me on hold to go on his radio show,

and he came on the phone before he went on the air. And he said, hey, Mike, John Fricke. I'm like, hey, John Fricke, hey. And he said, listen, just want to tell you, because that was really a great call. I just wanted to congratulate you. I was like, whoa. great call. I just wanted to congratulate you. I was like, whoa. You know, I mean, when people that you respect say nice things, it kind of sort of takes hold. But I think what's been the thing that has stood out the most is the reaction of fans. I was doing the state baseball

tournament in Murfreesboro a few days ago, and somebody stopped me from East Tennessee and said, Hey, I just want to tell you about my Music City Miracle experience. That happens every week, every single week. Somebody says something about, Hey, I want to tell you this. It's happened in other countries. And so you just, you're so thankful that you got to be part of something that means something to folks, you know,

that they associate with something really special. That, to me, is the best part. And I never get tired of that, ever. Well, that's really cool. Obviously, a lot of history came out of that, the name of our site and all that good stuff. So, yeah, it's really cool to hear you talk through that. Well, I got a phone call. It's funny because I got a phone call from a lawyer right after that who said, hey, we should trademark that.

Yeah. And I said, nah, I don't really want to do that. Because how that came about is I said that to a nine-year-old boy on our post-game show. I said, today will be the day that you can say that you saw the Music City miracle. And so my buddy called me. My buddy's a lawyer and he said, you know, you should trademark that. And I'm like, no, not, not interested. Uh, just no, no interest in that at all. Based on the fact that, uh, when it's all said and done,

the league's going to want it. And you know, that's, I have have i'm just thankful i was just glad i was there you know that was my first year it was my first year doing this and so i was just so thankful to be the play by play announcer at that moment i guess i should have probably right yeah maybe so um and that's what's always been so cool about the whole thing. You know, people, you know, we were here for the Preds run a couple years ago, and people that haven't been in Nashville that long don't understand what it was like, you know, being the first year as the Titans, going to the Super Bowl, and all that kind of stuff. I just long for the day where the team can get back to that level where people in the city

are bought in like they were then because it was really unbelievable. And unfortunately, if you've only been here for, I mean, 10, 15 years, you don't have any remembrance of what it was like for the city to be just all consumed by the Titans like that. It was, I mean, when we beat Indianapolis, 10,000 people were at the airport. That was before September 11, 2001, and you could come to the gate at the airport and, you know, wait on your loved one or your friend or whatever,

and there were 10,000 people in the airport waiting on us when we got home. People pulled off the interstate waiting on us, you know, honking their horns as the buses went by. interstate waiting on us, you know, honking their horns as the buses went by. 40,000-plus at Nissan Stadium after we beat Jacksonville. The massive parade. I've never known a losing team in any sport to ever have a parade. I've never heard of that before or since.

And we did. And hundreds of thousands, you know, hundreds, I don't know how many thousands of people showed up for that that was crazy um the whole thing was was a great experience as we became a pro market and to be from here and to see that was extra special and it was extra special. And it was extra special for me because I had so many people that I still love who are my friends and colleagues who thought I was making a horrible move taking this job.

They thought I was committing career suicide. And I said, I just think Nashville's going to do this. They're like, oh, it'll never work, and it'll be a disaster, and you're giving up what you have and all of this. And I had a talk show, and it was pretty successful. And, you know, when you get a talk show that's up and pretty successful, I mean, you're making pretty good money if you're the host.

And it was just me. It wasn't like I had six co-hosts it was just me and so i you know i i took a pay cut to take this job because i just believed that this would be that i i thought this region was going to support this and to see it happen in this way and to see that happen was extra special that's like when the draft happened guys i don't know how you guys felt but for me i got emotional more than once seeing the crowd seeing people walk across the bridge seeing nashville on tv um just hearing people brag on us. I mean, it just meant a lot, and it hearkened back to the 99 season

when people didn't believe in us, and we did it. And it wasn't just Nashville. It was Tennessee, and it was our fans in Kentucky and Alabama and Mississippi. I mean, this has always been a team that's been regionally followed in a really special way. And it has continued, and the draft brought all of those great feelings back. It's been a wonderful time. And now, hey, let's go have a great year and really cap it off, right?

Absolutely. Absolutely. All right, well, Mike, again, we appreciate you so much taking the time, so much cool stuff that we can get into with you, and hopefully we will catch up with you again down the line. Hey, it's my pleasure, and thanks for all you guys do to keep fans informed and entertained. I know I enjoy your stuff, and they do too, so thank you for having me on.

Absolutely. We appreciate you doing it. All right, so again, that's Mike Keith, voice of the Titans. If you missed yesterday's episode, go back and listen do too. So thank you for having me on. Absolutely. We appreciate you doing it. All right. So again, that's Mike Keith, Voice of the Titans. If you missed yesterday's episode, go back and listen to it where we got into questions about the draft. You can follow us on Twitter. Again, I am at jmorthmcm.

Terry is at tlamberttn. Check out museummiracles.com. We've got a lot of cool stuff going on there. So check that out. No downtime there. We'll have plenty of stuff to get you through the lull until we get into training camp. So for Mike Keith, for Terry Lambert, this is Jimmy Morris. Thanks for listening, and we will talk to you again later.